France Nature Environnement launches “a surveillance and legal action campaign” against Lactalis and its discharges into rivers

“The State is far too permissive,” accuses the association. Given the delays taken to comply with environmental requirements, the fines imposed on the dairy giant appear to be little dissuasive.

France Nature Environnement (FNE) launches “a campaign of surveillance and legal action” against Lactalis and its releases into rivers, France Inter learned on Thursday, November 21, from the association for the protection of nature and the environment. The dairy giant has already been singled out for water pollution due to its discharge of milk and cheese into rivers. This pollution causes in particular the death of fish that live in these waterways.

In 2021, five Lactalis cheese factories and dairies were placed under surveillance by the State, due to non-compliance or recurring incidents. The multinational claims to have invested 90 million euros to modernize its wastewater treatment systems, but France Nature Environnement has identified new pollution.

The association denounces, for example, a late compliance of the Lons-le-Saunier cheese factory, in the Jura, which will have to pay a fine of 30,000 euros. “It seems very late to us, not at all a deterrent for Lactalis”castigates the FNE lawyer, Anne Roques. “This Lactalis subsidiary has been discharging wastewater into the environment for seven years, we see that the State is far too permissive, that it does not dare to take sanctions when it is Lactalis or other large industries “she adds.

Lactalis acknowledges that the work posed technical difficulties, but assures that it will be completed next January. For its part, France Nature Environnement obtained the opening of a criminal investigation. The association regrets, however, that justice is not more often referred to this pollution.